IFFBoston ’15 Review: I’ll See You In My Dreams

Carol Petersen (Blythe Danner) is coming to terms with her twilight years. A widow of almost 20 years, Carol lives alone with her dog, and lives a relatively simple life. She meets her friends for bridge at the retirement community, she drinks wine, reads, and watches TV, and for all intents and purposes, she’s happy. But, things start to change when she has to put her dog down.

As she’s going about her day, a large rat suddenly runs by in her house. Scared, she leaves the house, and falls alseep by her pool. Awoken some time later by Lloyd (Martin Starr), the pool cleaner. She finds herself becoming friends with the much younger gentleman, and, happily, nothing untoward between the pair. It’s so refreshing to see a friendship play out without it being a plot device for romance. In addition to this new figure in her life, a handsome gentleman pays Carol a compliment while she’s shopping for vitamins, to which she finds herself thinking about long after. The gentleman, Bill (Sam Elliott) turns out to be a new resident of the retirement community. Carol, for the first time since her husband’s passing, starts to see Bill.

There are so few films with female-centric characters, especially about someone in their older years. I found “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” incredibly refreshing. It was a good story with an excellent cast that was funny, entertaining, and completely sweet.

Blythe Danner is exceptional, and its great to see her truly shine in a role that seems completely written for her. The cast of supporting characters like June Squibb and Rhea Perlman really add that final element of realistic comedy, without being over the top. I’d have to say this is the first somewhat normal “non-strange dude” role I’ve seen Martin Starr in, and he was excellent!

The film will be going into limited release, and I highly recommend checking out this special little movie.

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